I have bought and returned an iPhone 6 Plus 10 times, please send help

It’s entirely possible this could be classified as an actual mental illness. But there’s just something about the iPhone 6 Plus that draws me in about a week after I switch back to my iPhone 6. It goes something like this…

There’s nothing wrong with the iPhone 6. It’s the best smartphone not only in the world, but ever made. It’s gorgeous, it’s luxury-level premium, it’s the phone Apple wishes they could have made 7 years ago — it is completely perfect. Though, as someone who has always bought the best available iPhone, it kind of hurts that there’s one a bit better. Better is a relative term, obviously, but the screen on the iPhone 6 Plus is just perfection with its higher resolution display, and it’s entirely noticeable to me. There’s also optical image stabilization in the camera, though that’s not the biggest deal as the regular iPhone’s camera is a joy. You also get a bigger battery with the iPhone 6 Plus.

The trade-offs are you get a phone that can’t be used one-handed, one that is thicker, and heavier.

And those are the things I keep debating. I use my iPhone 6 and just know there’s something a bit better, a little more compelling than what I have now. And I want it. And I buy it, and I think, “hey this isn’t so bad, I can get used to the screen size!”

And I use it for a couple of days and try so hard to get into it, to incorporate it into my lifestyle, into daily use. Careful not to drop it, trying hard to type even a short message with one hand. Forcing myself to use the phone in landscape orientation because of the awesome landscape mode on the 6 Plus (I normally always have portrait lock on). And then… I pick up my iPhone 6 and it hits me every time.

Why am I doing this? Why is it worth a larger phone that is practically an iron weight in your pocket, that barely fits into your italian jeans, that can’t be used one-handed, that’s heavy and thick. For what? A nicer screen and a landscape mode you don’t use? But I keep pushing on. Another couple of days I figure and it’s a done deal. Though that doesn’t happen and in fact, it hasn’t happened about seven times now. A couple of the iPhone 6 Plus I bought had some minor manufacturing issues, things normal people probably wouldn’t notice or care about, but I deemed them unacceptable because it’s Apple and I’m not living with an imperfect product. The other times though? iPhone 6 Plus returned, and back to my iPhone 6. The funny thing is after I returned them, I got so mad each time for forcing myself to use this stupid, big, heavy, ridiculous-looking phone that is so unnecessary. I have an iMac, a laptop, an iPad Air 2, why in the hell do I need a big phone?

I don’t. I go back to my iPhone 6 and I am genuinely happy. It’s such a perfect balance in every way possible, it’s just right. And about a week later, guess what happens? I get this weird feeling that I’m missing out on something even better, an experience that Apple offers that I’m currently not getting, and I want it. I forget about the compromises, the fact that it’s nearly impossible to use this larger device, and I locate one online, and I buy it. And the cycle continues.